Prince Far I - Umkhonto We Sizwe reissue

[tjkong]

I was just comparing the recent reissue of Umkhonto We Sizwe with the original and noticed that a lot of the tracks are different. I know there were 6 bonus tracks added, but the other tracks have a lot of different titles. On the original album each track was followed by it's version - "Survival", then "Survival Version", "African Queen" then "African Queen Version".
On the reissue none of the tracks are titled as versions like this, but a lot of the titles relate to the preceding song, like "Queen Bee" following "African Queen" and "War Mongers" following "Stop The War", but in some cases the titles don't relate at all, like "What Mine's Yours" following "Ask Ask".

Does anyone know if these are just the same dub tracks retitled for the reissue, or are they different tracks entirely?

Thanks for any help on this.

[mike andy]

I'd be very surprised if there are 6 unreleased vocal tracks on the reissue - if I recall the album wasn't completed when Prince Far I was killed which is why it turned into a showcase album. Where have you seen the reissue? I can see a few shops selling the 2008 issue with the original tracklisting but nothing with the tracks you mentioned. There are several labels, unfortunately, that like to make up their own track titles to get people to buy stuff they've already got.

[tjkong]

Ernie B's reggae has it listed for sale. Appears to be a legit reissue from Roy Cousins' Tamoki Wambesi label.
Tracklist:
1. Survival
2. With Prayers
3. Ask Ask
4. What Mine's Yours
5. African Queen
6. Queen Bee
7. Stop The War
8. War Mongers
9. Jerry Doghead
10. Greenwich Farm
11. Special Request
12. Request Granted
13. Gebbi
14. Royal Palace
15. Ejarsa Gora
16. Road To Zion
17. Get Down
18. Bliss

This same tracklist appears on mp3 download sites, like Amazon.

[Jahson]

I noticed that too, Ernie has CD's for both the conventional track listing and the extra tracks (the discs have noticeably different back covers)

The "expanded" release has sound clips attached. All of the songs play fine until you get to--wouldn't you know it--tracks 13-18. Mysterious

[Jahson]

Just had a listen on Amazon and these tracks are all dubs, not sure their relation to the original set or other Far I releases but they sound contemporary to the vocal set.

[Roots Archives]

In fact I think all dub titles are related to their vocal versions, included "What's Your's Is Mine" and "Jerry Doghead" (from Greenwich Farm).
It seems to me they are all made up titles.

Furthermore, "Gebbi" and "Ejarsa Gora" seems to be tracks taken from the Megabit album, where the latter is a dubversion of a Charlie Chaplin song with some added Prince Far I vocals.

Where there are some nice tracks on this release, I don't know if you can call it legit though.